Mexico City's drinking water crisis is a complex, longstanding problem rooted in a number of exacerbating factors, from climate change and over-development to pollution and chaotic population growth. In this visual essay, Magnum photographer Jérôme Sessini documents the Mexican capital's diminished drinking water supply, fixing his lens on the people impacted most by this arid new reality.
Originally settled in the 1300s as an island in the middle of a series of lakes, Mexico City is now a megalopolis that's home to nearly 22 million people. Served by a water system pushed to its limit, its citizens find relief in unheard of ways, like pulling unfiltered water from ground wells and buying it by the bottle on the black market.
Bolstered by reporting from Rodrigo Cervantes, a former Mexico City bureau chief for NPR member station KJZZ, Sessini captures lakes dried up, reservoirs drained low, and taps running dry, as the people who relied on them suffer by ingesting water that's not fit for consumption. Meanwhile, the parched soil beneath struggles to support the weight of the megalopolis. Without enough water to keep it afloat, Mexico City is literally sinking under the weight of its own ambition and growth.
